100 days in office:The change Ghanaians didn't anticipate

100 days in office:The change Ghanaians didn't anticipate

By ANANPANSAH,B ABRAHAM (AB)

It's often said that all that starts well ends well.Others howbeit contradict this statement by maintaining that the end justifies the means.(Thus,it's the end that matters and not the start).
Either of these statements could just be right or wrong depending on the situation at hand.

Infact, it has become a common tradition the world over to have political watchers, the media,think tanks,civil society et cetera subject the first 100 days of political leaders (presidents) to critical analysis and scrutiny.The wisdom of such analysis may well be found either in the first statement above, or founded on the wisdom of the builder,thus,the foundation matters most in determining the strength of a building.

It's well to note that the idea of the first 100 days in office was pioneered by Franklin D. Roosevelt when he took over the white house in 1933.We are told he moved with speed and decisive leadership to surmount the calamity of depression his government was faced with.
According to Kenneth T. Walsh,"the first 100 days measure is 'not a perfect measure, but it is a useful one – the 100 day standard for gauging Presidential effectiveness."
He further noted that,"Presidents tend to be most effective when they first take office, when their leadership style seems fresh and new, when the aura of victory is still powerful.”
To him,the importance of the first 100 days is the assurance or otherwise that citizens will derive from the leadership of the new president.

For the reasons above,the first 100 days in office are usually accorded much prominence in many political systems including Ghana.

Today,the 17th of April,2017,marks exactly 100 days since Ghanaians arose and voted for change.The change was very massive.Infact,there is this NPP communicator on one of our political platforms who has made it his pastime to always remind,in his own words,NDC members of the massive change by updating us with the declared figures of the 2016 presidential election everyday.According to him,NDC members want to deliberately forget the figures and humiliating defeat, which to him is not possible.That may be true...

It was a mysterious defeat caused by the mistake of an opponent riding a lame horse.In reminding us however,the NPP communicator forgot the fact that the resounding victory and endorsement of the NPP by the good people of Ghana can only mean one thing-high hopes by the ordinary Ghanaian in the NPP government.Indeed, the party promised to solve almost all the problems of Ghanaians which they believed were caused by the "incompetent or is it substandard Mahama?"

As a matter of fact,we are at the first lap today,the first 100 days like joke "like joke" is here with us in Ghana and it's good we remind ourselves about where we started off with the NPP government and how far they have brokered the social contract we entered into with them.

It's instructive to note that the NPP's Nana-Bawumia government started off very well after such a smooth transition process despite the pockets of violence by supporters of the party which we can take mildly to be part of the jubilation.The government however got caught up in the whirlpool of plagiarism on the 7th of January,2017, during the swearing in ceremony.
Immediately power had changed hands, the hooliganism on the part of party supporters intensified.Popular government offices across the country(such as the YEA and NHIS)where braced up in the name of our government is now in power and we owe those offices.Such practices were widely condemned and the situation came under sustained control.

Then fast-forward to the State of Nation Address (SONA) which to me was very apt and promising.The asempa budget gave Ghanaians every reason to keep hopes alive.That budget is something else.Very inspirational, self explanatory,promising and a well articulated document.Most of the manifesto promises of the NPP were captured in that budget:free S.H.S,teacher and nurses trainee allowance, major tax cut...ad infinitum.

It should also be said that the NPP government chalked some successes within the first 100 days.Of particular mention is the commitment to establishing the office of special prosecutor to deal with corruption,removal/reduction of major taxes,suspending the licencing of small scale miners, year-on-year inflation dropping to 12.8 since March this year(but this may also be a carry over effect from the previous administration),14 special courts designated to fight the almighty galamsey,planting for food and jobs agriculture flagship programme(we are told 250,000 farmers are to benefit from phase one of the project),IMF is also predicting an economic boom for the country...It's also important to put on record that most of these successes are as a result of the good foundation the previous administration laid.

What Ghanaians didn't anticipate:

The stupefying change Ghanaians didn't however anticipate is the lack clear source of sustained funding stated for the free S.H.S which is to commence this September...That policy is just for political capital.It can't be meaningfully sustained into the near future.The 2017 budget is even struggling to contain the policy.

Also,the NPP government categorically pledged to restore in full teacher and Nurses trainee allowance and to pay all contractual debt within the first 100 days...These promises were emphatically made taking into cognisance the kind of system we operate in Ghana and were to be fulfilled without excuses.Maybe we will have to ask the trainees and contractors for the facts regarding the progress of payment.Political Talk indeed is cheap.(It was a change Ghanaians never anticipated).

Indeed,the most "flabberwhelming" news Ghanaians never anticipated is to wake up one morning to hear that our dear country had made it into the Guinness Book of Record.Why? The president appointed 110 men and women as ministers of state .Unprecedented!
Ministries were created for anything and everything.One was nearly created for social media.Jumping Judas!
Civil Society,think tanks,development experts, the media and the ordinary Ghanaians lamented in silence about the number.But the dead goat syndrome seem to have caught up with our dear president.(Mr.president,if you don't know Ghanaians,ask ex president Mahama.We are marking your actions).Try as they did to justify the number,hard could Ghanaians come to terms with the logic of such a wasteful number of ministers.And this makes sense.In a country where there is a clamor to downsize the civil service,it makes no sense to "up size the executive arm of government that basically does nothing without the technical help of the civil service .This is common sense!Well,we are waiting to hear any politician talk about a particular bloated wage bill or large size of the civil service,not to even talk of public service.

100 days in office and there is no sign of a single dam being dug or factory being put up.100 days in office and the National Identification Scheme which according to their manifesto is key to formalising the economy and regenerating taxes is yet to be initiated.Has the Right to Information Bill been passed?How about corporate taxes,have they been brought down to 20% from the 32% as promised?How about the energy sector levy,has it been abolished completely?

Deepening the cracks in the system,New MMDCs are yet to be appointed but the one's who were serving under the previous administration have been dismissed.The assemblies for months now are under the control of the coordinating directors who only look at things from a purely technical point of view and thus the political aspect or public choice is sacrificed.The district assembly common fund administrator has been asked to proceed on leave,YEA regional directors and a host of other office holders have been asked to proceed on leave.The festival of 'proceed on leave and hand over to the acting CEO or caretaker officer is the order of the day....Another mild way of saying, "you're fired!
We are politicising public offices and state institutions yet we pretend to be fighting against the the winner takes all politics in Ghana.Huh!

Statutory payment to the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) reduced to 5% from the previous 7% as hinted in the 2017 budget.Many have challenged the legality of this action already as it clearly violate Article 252 Section (2) of the 1992 Constitution which allot 7% of Ghana's annual revenue to MMDAs.The Akuffo Addo government has allocated Ghc1.7billion(5% of Ghc34 billion total revenue expectation) to MMDAs instead of Ghc 2.38 billion (7% of Ghc34 billion total revenue expectation ).I'm suspecting just like many Ghana's that the 2% will be channeled into realising the 1million, one district policy which a local government worker has hinted me is to be managed by politicians and not the assembly.Those politicians will be appointed independent of the assembly to mismanaged the fund. (Job for the boys)...
Seven other statutory fund earmarked for downward review are the Ghana Education Trust Fund (Getfund),the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), Petroleum-Related Funds,Ghana Infrastructural Investment Fund (GIIF), Ghana National Petroleum Corporation Fund (GNPC), the Social security and National Insurance Trust(SSNIT),and the Road Fund.Change has come,ampa!

Fresh in our minds:the NPP in its 2016 manifesto noted that the Ghanaian economy is broken-there is widespread hardship and suffering,resulting in insecurity at all levels.They promised to repair the situation when voted into power.100 days in power and the nightmare of Ghanaians continue unabated.Private security groups largely affiliated to the NPP are causing unrest and injustice everywhere.Once they don't like you,they take the law into their own hands and launch an open attack.A point in case is the raiding of the Asanti Regional Coordinating Council by Delta Force and assaulting the coordinating director...13 members of the group who were arrested in connection with the crime were later assisted to escape remand from court  by same group members.Well, eight of such felonies have been charged with disturbing a court session,for resisting arrest and freeing 13 persons who were in lawful custody, and are scheduled to reappear before court on the 20th of April, 2017.We pray the matter is pursued to a justifiable end without political interference.
These people have terrorise our society enough .Unlawful sizure of private vehicles of political opponents,dragoon takeover of public toilets, school feeding programs...Raiding of Tema ports and harbour,passport office,Kumasi circuit courts, attacks on innocent citizens,and the government of the day is silent in all these cases of injustice with impunity.Enough is enough.The president's condemnation to me came rather too late.(His government seem to have lost control of state of affairs)...But let's hope things are brought under control in this country.

It's or should be said that it's early days yet for anyone to do a comprehensive analysis of this current administration.All that starts well may just end well or the end may justify the means.We only pray the government succeed in improving our lot.
But let's keep our eyes widely opened and our ears alert to hold them accountable to their campaign promises.The days of politics of sugarcoated words is over...
Happy Easter and may God bless us all.

The writer is a teacher by profession,a freelance journalist,writer/blogger,a youth advocate and a L400 student of Bachelor of Science(BSC) Public Administration at for University of Ghana Business School (UGBS).Read more of his works on (ananpansah-ab.blogspot.com).

By ANANPANSAH,B ABRAHAM (AB)
Teacher/Blogger/Freelance Journalist
0241129910/0200704844